So Sad. We Loved Her as Connie, Assistant to the Chief on ‘Chicago Fire’: DuShon Monique Brown Dies at 49

“On Friday, DuShon Monique Brown “died a little after 12 p.m. at St. James Olympia Field Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office,” reports the Chicago Tribune, adding, “She was 49. The cause of death has not yet been disclosed.”

Brown played the no-nonsense Connie, assistant to Chief Boden on NBC’s “Chicago Fire.”

The story adds that the show’s executive producer, Dick Wolf, said, “The ‘Chicago Fire’ family is devastated to lose one of its own. Our thoughts and prayers are with DuShon’s family and we will all miss her.”

Notes the Tribune, “On the NBC series, Brown’s character was a stern-faced delight and a steadying influence on a group of co-workers prone to getting into one mess or another… Brown could do a lot with a look, and the show’s writers and producers made the most of that talent.”

Writes Deadline.com, “Brown, a Chicago native, was a longtime theater actor before segueing to television, having performed at the Goodman, Victory Gardens, Lookingglass, Drury Lane, MPAACT and Pegasus Players in Chicago. Her other TV work also included guest spots on ‘Empire’ and ‘Shameless.’

“In an interview last year with the website Hidden Remote, Brown said that when she was first cast in the role of Connie on ‘Chicago Fire,’ ‘my character didn’t even have a name. She was a noun. She was Secretary and it was a one-liner. What was exciting was [I] was auditioning for a Chicago show, but it was also the possibility that she could maybe develop into something.’”

Here’s a short video we found on YouTube featuring Brown in a deleted scene from “Chicago Fire.”